Glimmers of Fatherhood
by The Carnivorous Muffin
Summary: Lily shares the good news, Tom panics. Side fic to "October"


**Author's Note: A warning that this is a side fic to "October" and if you haven't read that you'll be very confused.**

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"I'm sorry, Lily could you repeat that?"

Tom was giving her that look again, that very Tom Riddle look of his, the one that said, "I have no idea what's happening, how we got to the point where this could happen, and if there is a way I can leave the planet or burrow into a hole and never come out I will find it."

It was almost cute, unbearably charming, but it wasn't really the expression she'd been hoping for.

Granted, she didn't know what exactly she had been hoping for or expecting. Tom was generally not a man of extreme highs or lows, she hadn't really expected or wanted him to throw her into his arms and spin her around in circles or else whisk her off to the bedroom chamber. That wasn't… it wasn't the kind of reaction one could ever expect from Tom Riddle no matter the circumstance.

He was soft, nostalgic and often bittersweet smiles, pensive frowns, a general brooding aura, or else dry witticisms and a sharp temper. Everything was subtle and refined and you had to know him before you could see those bits and pieces of his soul.

Of course, Tom was always harried and out of it the closer it came to the end of term, especially with the holidays right around the corner. Tom… he had odd reactions to the holidays, on the one hand he seemed to loathe it as much as the Grinch, on the other hand she'd catch him sometimes looking at lights or her with an oddly fond expression. Of course, he'd never admit to it, outright refused to celebrate New Year's and his birthday, but she didn't think he hated it nearly as much as he pretended to.

Still, he could at least pretend, especially when it wasn't that shocking.

If you were going to have unprotected sex there was a large chance that you'd eventually get pregnant. That was just how it worked, so he shouldn't be looking like she'd just told him a comet was about to hit them tomorrow.

Still, she grinned up at him and leaned forward on his desk, ruining his carefully organized papers as she repeated, "Tom, we're pregnant!"

He looked, if possible, even more out of sorts and alarmed by that statement.

Slowly, after a significantly long pause, he repeated dumbly, "Pregnant."

"Yes, Tom, that's what happens when you have unprotected sex enough times," honestly, sometimes she just wanted to punch him in the face for being willfully stupid. She stopped then, looked at how wide his eyes were and how pale his expression was, and felt doubt rolling up her spine.

She had assumed…

Well, that was the trouble, one could never assume anything about Tom Riddle, and she had… She'd just gone to Saint Mungos, heard the results she'd been beginning to suspect, and it'd seemed so natural to tell Tom as soon as she'd returned to Hogwarts. She hadn't even paused to think that, well, maybe he wouldn't want something like that.

She swallowed, closed her eyes for a moment, and forced herself to ask, "Are you… Do you not want…"

"No, no," he quickly said, some spark of life reentering his eyes and his lips quickly turning into a rather charming smile that she imagined had made him the apple of everyone's eye, "No, I'm very happy, Lily, simply shocked. I've always been an orphan so the idea of a family is…"

He trailed off then, looking away from her as if he had no idea how to complete that sentence. Lily hadn't thought of that, of course she'd known he was an orphan, found out for herself that she really didn't want anything to do with the few relatives he did have left. But then maybe she'd assumed that would mean he'd want a family even more than anyone else would, to finally have that glimmer of hope and laughter in his own life.

Still, as much as he was smiling he looked conflicted, which in turn made her just as conflicted.

He wiped at his face then, looking suddenly quite tired, and then his smile was back bigger and brighter than ever, "We'll have to go to Saint Mungos, that is what we do, isn't it?"

At least this time his panic looked more natural, that of a man who had never bothered to think or even concern himself with such things. A perpetual bachelor, as he'd probably intended to be until she'd steamrolled her way into his life.

Still, she smiled back at him, if only because he hadn't said no. If he truly didn't want this, didn't accept this, he would have said something by this point. He was not a man who would hide his opinions to spare someone's feelings, not even hers, so he must not really be upset.

They'd get through this, no, they'd do more than that.

Even if Tom didn't think he was ready, couldn't begin to picture, Lily certainly could. He'd more than live up to her expectations, as he always did.

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 **Author's Note: Written for the 2000th review of October where reviewer wildcat1144 asked for a story with Lily's point of view in chapter 41 where she tells Tom that she's pregnant. So, here we are, an aren't they adorable.**

 **Thanks for reading, reviews are much appreciated.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**


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